Making Ireland’s healthcare sector more sustainable and resilient in a warming world

The HSE’s Climate Action Programme, together with the Climate and Health Alliance will gather today to discuss the important steps and initiatives being taken to make Ireland’s healthcare sector more sustainable and resilient. Caring for the health of the environment goes hand in hand with caring for the health of patients and will support and protect the health and wellbeing of future generations.

The conference’s primary focus is to bring together 32 organisations who have signed up to a Joint Declaration on planetary and human health. These organisations are predominantly members of the Climate and Health Alliance and include public and private healthcare providers, colleges and professional bodies. Signatories have made a commitment to work together, with immediate effect to transition to a clean, healthy, sustainable, carbon-free, and socially-just environment.

Creating sustainable models of care across the various healthcare sectors in Ireland is an important goal of the HSE, and will continue to be into the future. Today’s conference will cover a number of topics including:

• Taking climate action across the health service
• Connecting climate change to health/Irish healthcare from now until 2050
• Collaborating and connecting for urgent action/opportunities for health.

Dr Philip Crowley, National Director of Wellbeing, Equality, Climate and Global Health, HSE says:
"The healthcare sector is a notable contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for an estimated 5% of total emissions globally and is also responsible for responding to people’s changing health needs affected by climate change.

“Change is already taking place across many areas we identified in the HSE’s Climate Action Plan. Climate change is one of the greatest threats to public health across the globe, and as Ireland’s largest public body, we in the HSE recognise the significant role we can play in tackling the climate crisis.”

Dr Sean Owens, GP and Chair of the Climate and Health Alliance adds:
“Sustainable healthcare isn’t a concession; it is quality evidence-based medicine that recognises the gravity of the accumulated climate and nature crisis and the consequences for health.

“The Climate and Health Alliance flips this paradigm and asks us to realise the generational health benefits of timely and just climate action. Active transport, sustainable diets, and access to nature are all wins for health and the planet. With this joint declaration, we now have a unified voice that recognises this and holds us accountable for what we need to do.”

The HSE launched its Climate Action Strategy 2023-2050 in June 2023. This health service-wide strategy aims to reduce the negative climate impacts of our health service on the environment, achieve net-zero emissions for the HSE by 2050, and deliver healthcare that is environmentally and socially sustainable.